7 Tips For Improving Case Acceptance From Your Website

Your dental website can be your most powerful tool when it comes to educating patients and increasing the rate of treatment plan acceptance. Currently when a patient sees their dentist and leaves with a treatment plan, there is often no recourse should they have questions about what they were told – and they usually do have questions. After reviewing the treatment plan information with their family or friends and thinking it over themselves more carefully, patients tend to want to see what different treatment scenarios might mean and also whether it is feasible to stagger the treatments to make them more affordable.

You should have a top-level overview of what you offer, summaries of each treatment and then in-depth coverage of what is involved and what a patient can expect afterwards.

Your dental website should contain all of the information a patient might want – covering everything from payment plans with financial partners to pain management after the treatment should it be necessary. It should be accessible and straight-forward. Here are a few quick tips on how to increase the rate of treatment plan acceptance:

1. 1. Have plenty of easily digestible information
      It is not enough to simply state what a treatment plan might be or to just describe different procedures – this content needs to be broken down into bite-size pieces for patients who want varying levels of information. You should have a top-level overview of what you offer, summaries of each treatment and then in-depth coverage of what is involved and what a patient can expect afterwards. By providing such content on your website you will satisfy the information needs of the majority of your clients.

       

   2. Make it visually appealing
      In our highly mediated culture, pictures are powerful. Include as many before/after digital photos as possible of procedures done on your patients. People want to know how a treatment is going to impact the way they look. Provide good examples of what they can expect the results to be. An added attraction is to include animations of how the treatment works or what the process is you will follow to get the results they see.
      
      
   3. Be clear and comprehensive
      Be sure to explain each procedure simply including all the steps it involves – from prepping at the clinic to at-home care during recovery.
      
      
   4. Talk about pain management
      People are fearful of going to the dentist because they equate their treatment with pain. Be clear about what you will do to prevent them from feeling any pain. Talk about sedation options and pain management so they have a clear understanding of their choices.
      
      
   5. Allow patients to access their treatment plan & consent forms online
      One of the best things you can do to increase the rate of treatment plan acceptance is to provide each patient access to their treatment plan & consent forms online. An interactive treatment plan that a patient can manipulate to see different treatment scenarios will help to reassure patients who may not be prepared for everything all at once. By allowing them the opportunity to see that they can break the plan down into manageable chunks, you will convince many of them to proceed with the plans.
      
      
   6. Provide financial planning options
      Dental treatment plans can be very expensive – especially for patients who aren’t covered by insurance. Finding a dental financing option can be a daunting task. By providing payment policies, financing options, links to financial partners and payment plan details to your patients, you will be facilitating their decision-making. Show them that their treatments can be affordable and they will be much more open to accepting their plans – this is exactly what a Zuub treatment plan can do. It will create an interactive, online treatment plan that your patients can manipulate to see how different treatment scenarios will look financially by pulling your existing treatment planning data automatically from your practice management softwares such as Dentrix, Eaglesoft and Open Dental . They will clearly see what their insurers will cover for each procedure and what they will be responsible for paying. Our software will also provide them with the links to third party financing options to further facilitate their decision-making.
      
      
   7. Provide links to reputable external resources
      By including links from your Website to highly-regarded ones such as the American Dental Association or WebMD, patients will be able to get a “second opinion” from a trusted source.